Brand new here and feeling desperate.

Hello, I am grateful to have found this forum.

I am a 36 year old woman. I've had headaches all my life, and migraines for the last 5 years. They have increased in severity/intensity and the last few months have been hell. Since the end of May I've had more migraines than I can count. I'm currently suffering with one that has last for a week.

I have been literally in bed, in agony for a week and I am so depressed. My husband took me to my neurologist for an infusion and it helped somewhat with my nausea, but my head still hurts. I don't know how much more I can take.

I am currently on 100 mg of Topomax, and my neuro wants me to go up to 150mg. I have lost a lot of weight already (down to 98 lbs) so I am not thrilled with this idea, but I'm going along with it. Food has completely lost it's appeal. I have Sumavel injections and Maxalt (which really doesn't work for me) so he switched me to Relpax. I have tried Imatrex and Elavil in the past with no success.

He is also going to try to get prior auth. from my insurance company for Botox injections. I'm willing to do absolutely anything at this point. I'm curious to hear thoughts/advice on this.

Right now my husband and children are at a birthday party for my mom, and I'm in bed. I'm feeling very sorry for myself and having a tough time with this pain. I just want it to end. Thanks for listening. It's comforting to know I'm not alone and I hope we all find relief.

You are definitely not alone.........please keep posting as often as you need. As you wait for insurance approval for the botox can you talk to your doc about trying different rescue meds? I am also waiting to get approval for botox - you could do a search on this site and read what others have said about its effectiveness. Do you know what your triggers are? Does heat or ice help cut the pain? We all understand how you feel - the pain makes us so desperate and we just want our lives back - please continue to keep your neuro informed about your level of pain - there are other drug combination infusions he could try. Please stay in touch. Leslie

I get the botox. It has helped me so much. I know from posts on this site, that other have different opinions on botox. I agree that you should search the site for botox threads, there are several.

From what I understand Botox is usually worst case scenario, last resort treatment. Not to discourage you, but if this is what your Neuro is thinking, then it may be time. I could have had it years ago, but didn't have the "qualifications" the insurance company required. This was also before the FDA approval. Eventually I ended up on disability and the Medicare covered the Botox, while my insurance paid the "surgeon fee" for the injections.

I just got an e-mail from my NEW ins company with their guidelines for Botox. You might be able to request this from your insurance. I read over mine and I meet the criteria for what I have tried as treatments/medications in the past, but they want me to take a copy to my DR, so next visit I will.

Good luck and I am sorry you are feeling so poorly. Please stay active on the forum, it can be a valuable resource!!!

Welcome and I'm sorry you have to be here. However, this board is a great resource and comfort knowing there are others like us. Like you I've had migraine all my life - started when I was 16. About 8 months ago they transformed into daily. Still not sure why or what caused this. Fortunately the headache part isnt the worst for me, more the aura and prodomes with nausea.

I see a specialist in August who I'm hoping will have some suggestions or at least tell me I'm going down the right path. I'm on med trial #5. I couldnt tolerate the topamax so I'm taking 10mg of Cipralex and 20mg of nortriptalyne daily right now. Not sure if it's doing any good or not but I'm back to work part-time - I was on full-time disability for 2 months.

My thoughts are with you and feel free to post any time.